Automatic shifter



Feb.' 23 1926. A

W. T. CHAMBERLAIN AUTOMATIC SHIFTER I Driginal Filed May 3l 1924 2Sheets-$heet 1 mun Hmmnmmm INVENTQR W ZY Czam eraiw.

ATTORNEYS PatentedFeb. 23, 1926.

WILLIAM T. CHAMBERLAIN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

AUTOMATIC SHIFTER.

Original application filed May 31, 1924, Serial No. 717,077. Divided andthis application filed April 23, 1925. Serial No. 25,334.

To all whom t may Coface/ra:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM T. CHAM- BERLAIN, a citizen of the UnitedStates. and a resident of the city of New vYork, borough of Manhattan,in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and ImprovedAutomatic Shifter, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

This invention relates to automatic shifters and more particularly to anautomatic shifter for a valve or valves, the object of the inventionbeing to provide an apparatus which will automatically shift the valveand rpermit the valve to remain in one position for a predeterminedlength of time, and then quickly and suddenly shift the position of thevalve.

l/Vhile I refer to my device as a shifter designed primarily forshifting a valve it is obvious that I do not limit myself in thisrespect but desire to cover the apparatus broadly for any uses to whichit can be put.

The device is, however, primarily designed for use in connectio-n withmy improved air preheater, disclosed in my pending application forpatent filed May 31, 1924, Serial No. 717,077, of which this applicationis a division.

IVith these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certainnovel features of construction and combinations and arrangements ofparts, which will be more fully hereinafter described and pointed out inthe claims.

In the accompanying drawings- Figure 1, is a view illustrating' myimproved valve shifter, the view being taken in section on the line 1-1of Figure 2;

Figure 2 is a view in elevation at right angles to Figure 1, showing thearrangement of parts constituting my improved mechanism Figure 3 is afragmentary view in secti'on on the line 3-8 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a sectional view illustrating the assemblage of my improvedmechanism in connection with a valve and its co-operating parts; v

' Figure 5 is a fragmentary view in section on the line 5 5 of Figure 2.

14 represents an operating rod which may be connected to any desiredreversing mech- Tlus me is tired t@ a pistes mounted to reciprocate in acylinder 16 and caused to move' by suitable fluids such as air or Ysteamwhich may be admitted through pipes 17 and 18 the latter connecting therespective ends of the cylinder 16 wit-h a valve casing 2O having arotary valve 19 therein.

This valve'19 is preferably vof the plug or turning type having twopassages 21 and 22, Vso that when theV valve is in the position shown inFigure 4 a fluid supply pipe 23 is in communication with the pipe 18,and the pipe 17 is in communication with an outlet 24. lVhen the valveis turned so as to reverse its position fluid is admitted through thepipe 17 to move the piston tothe right of Figure 4, and the fluid in thecylinder exhausts through the outlet 24. i

As clearly set forth in my `original ap plication above described, it isdesirable that the valve 19 operate quickly from one extreme position toanother, and it is the purpose of my device or mechanism, whichconstitutes the subject matter of this application, to provide means forcarrying out this result.

C represents a supporting framework providing mounting for a crank arm46 f which is connected by a rod with a valve 50 worm wheels 51 and 52are loosely mounted. These worm wheels 51 and 52 are turned by worms 53on shafts 54, and these shafts 54- have gear wheels 55 fixed thereonwhich under-mesh`so as to compel the worm shafts 54 to turn in oppositedirections and transmit motion in opposite directions to the worm wheels51 and 52, respectively. i

On one of the shafts 54 a large gear wheel 56 is fixed and is turned bya pinion 57 on a shaft 58 driven by a motor, preferably an electricmotor, 59. The weighted arm 50 carries atv-opposite sides bell crankratchet @uns 60. "there being reverser 190er tioned at opposite sideswith the shorter endsl ofthe ratchet arms yadapted to be engaged bylugs6l on the worm wheels 51 or 52 and the longer ends ofthe arm engagefixed pins 62 on. the weightedv arm The operation of thisvalve-throwingv mechanism is as follows: Assuming the partsto be in thelpositionshownin Figure l, it will be noted that the worm wheel 51' hasitsv lug 61 in engagement with the bell crank ratchet arm 6() so thatthe longer* end of said arm isheld against the pin 62a1id hence theweighted Yarm Ais being carried around by the lworm wheel in thedirection ofthe arrow, i

This movement of the weighted arm causes the shaft 4-7 to turn and carrythe jbar i8 around with it. The' crank arm i6 yremains; stationary untilthe lleft-hainl end of the bar 48,2' shown in Figure` 1,"moves aroundfar enough to engage thecrankpin 49 on the arm 41:6. This position isshown in full lines` in Figure 4. At 'this L point'. the weighted arml5() will fall in the direction of the arrow (see `Figure 4) and the bari8 will cause. the cranl; arm Li6 ,to swing rapidly over lto the'dottedline position of Figure 2l so that the valve 19 will be instantlyshifted and the direction of flow of the fluid controlled by said valvewill be reversed .so that the piston l5 will be moved toward theopposite end of the cylinder 1G. rlhe fall arm 60 to move away from thelug 6l, as will be readily understood. It lis desirable to provide stoppins 63 on the framework C to limit the movement of the crankarm Afterthe weighted ,arm has moved to the dotted line positionin Figure l itwill be caused to move inthe reverse direction and repeat -the operationabove described by action of the worm wheel 52 andiits lug 61.

It will, of course,"be noted that the ratchet arms 60 pcrmitthe lugs' 6lto pass in'one direction but compel the arm toimove with the lug in theopposite direction.

Various slight changes and alterations might be made in the general formof 'the `parts described without departing from my invention, and henceI do not limit myself to the precise details set forthbut considermyself at liberty to makesuch slight changes and alterationsfas fairlyfall within the vappended claims.

l claim; l.. An automatic shifteradaptel to throw a valve,l comprisinga' sup'p' ort',iV a valvethrowing crank arm on the support a lshaftonthesuppert, a bal; fired betivefni .it .ends

'ds een.

to the shaft .and agitated fat' ts j:

:wheel and in the other direction by the other 'worm wheel, and wherebysaid arm when the bar engages the crank arm falls of its own weight toquickly move the crank arm from onep'osition to another land to quicklyreverse thel valve.

2. A valveshifter including a support, a shaft on the support, aweighted arm fixed to the' shaftpmeans for transmitting motion to theshaft to lturn the same in opposite' directions, and means causing therelease of the shaft from its operating means whereby theweightmay fallby gravity and complete the movement of the shaft.

3. valve shifter, including a support, a shaft on the support, aweighted arm fixed Vto the shaft, means for transmitting motion to theshaft to turn the same in opposite directions, means. causing t-herelease of the shaft from its operating means whereby the weight mayfall by gravity and complete the movement fof the shaft, and membersproto engagea movable part and transmit mol tion thereto in oppositedirections. of the ,weighted arm 50 causes the ratchet 1i. A valveshifter, including a support, a shaft on the support, a weighted armfixed to the shaft, means for transmitting motion to the arm to turnsaid shaft in opposite directions,'the arm being adapted for releasefrom its operating means whereby the arm may fall by gravity andlcomplete the movement of the shaft, said release'o'ceurring at apredetermined time in both directions of movement."

5. An Iautomatic shifter, comprising a support, a valve-throwing crankarm on the support a shaft on'the support, a bar ,fixed betweonitsendsto the shaft and adapted at its, endsv to' engage the crank arm, aweighted arm fixed to the lshaft, a pair of worin wheels loosel on theshaft and at opposite sides of the weighted arm, means for turning saidworm wheels in opposite direc ti ons,rlugs `ou theworin wheels, andratchet meanson oppositeisides ofthe weighted arm whereby the arm isCaused to more in one direction by'one'worm wheel and in the otherdirection byjthe other worm wheel, aiid is 'eleased fr onrsuchAengagnentafter the ar rs moved' a predetermined distance.

Wittniir r. orninsnanarn.

